2010 Achievements
The School congratulates the following staff and students on their achievements:
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Mr John Moraes, P/G Teaching Fellow, was awarded the Jim O'Donnell Prize for 2010 which provided him with funding to carry out work with Associate Professor Khoji Ohno at Kyoto University, Japan.
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Dr Ron Clarke who has been awarded the inaugural McAulay-Hope Prize for Original Biophysics at the Annual Conference of the Australian Society for Biophysics (ASB), held last week in Adelaide. The McAulay-Hope Prize for Original Biophysics is designed to recognise true originality and innovation in the field of biophysics, rather than the use of existing techniques or applications.
- Dr Timothy Schmidt, Professor Maxwell Crossley and A/Prof Sebastien Perrier who have received funding from The Australian Solar Institute and the NSW Government through its Science Leveraging Fund totalling $967,000 for photovoltaic energy research.
- Dr Richard Payne, along with his collaborators Dr Nicholas West and Professor Warwick Britton from the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology who have awarded a NH&MRC research grant valued at $702,165 for their work on the Design, development and analysis of new tuberculosis drugs.
- Professor Cameron Kepert who has been awarded a prestigious ARC Future Fellowship for his work on functional molecular nanomaterials. The aim of Future Fellowships is to attract and retain the best and brightest mid-career researchers.
- Dr Siggi Schmid who has been awarded the Pearson RACI Centenary of Federation Chemistry Educator of the Year Award for 2010 for his outstanding contribution to chemistry teaching.
- PhD students Yue Wu and Connie Liu, who have received fully funded (from AOFSSR) positions to attend the AOFSSR Cheiron School 2010 at the SPring-8 facility in Hyogo, Japan.
- Dr Mat Todd who was awarded a Stop-overs in Commonwealth Countries grant from the Royal Society of Chemistry for a visit to the University of Cape Town, South Africa, to collaborate with staff there on finding new drugs for neglected tropical diseases using open science.
- Mr William Brant, PhD candidate and P/G Teaching Fellow, who received an AsCA Rising Star Award at the recent conference of the Asian Crystallographic Association in Busan, Korea (October 31 - November 3). From a pool of nominees, candidates are selected on the strength of their poster presentation and invited to give an oral presentation on their work in a special Rising Star Symposium.
- Ms Alexandra Manos-Turvey, PhD candidate and P/G Teaching Fellow, who was awarded a Best Poster Prize at the EFMC-ISMC 21st International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry, September 5-9, Brussels, Belgium.
- Congratulations to all the School's successful ARC Discovery and Linkage Grant applicants. The overall success rate for Discovery Grant applications submitted through the School was 43.4%, which is twice that of the national average:
- Dr. Deanna M D'Alessandro - QEII and project Conducting nanoporous materials: toward molecular devices
- Professor Trevor Hambley - Development of prodrug strategies for achieving increased penetration and selective activation in solid tumours
- Professor Kate A Jolliffe - New synthetic receptors for selective recognition and sensing of biologically important anions
- Dr Amir Karton - The role of hypohalous acids and related oxidants in the oxidative damage of biological systems: a computational investigation
- A/Professor Michael Kassiou, A/Professor Lou Rendina - The development of carboranes as new agents in the diagnosis and treatment of brain disease
- Professor Brendan J Kennedy and Dr Chris D Ling - Crystal-chemical tuning of order and disorder: a strategy for the discovery of novel solid conductors
- Dr Chiara Neto - Tailoring surface properties to maximise boundary slip for microfluidic applications
- A/Professor Sebastien Perrier and Professor Kate A Jolliffe - Polymer-functionalised nanotubes: controlled formation by self-assembly
- Professor Jeffrey R Reimers - Chemical physics for nanotechnology and biotechnology
- Dr Timothy Schmidt - Photochemical upconversion for third generation photovoltaic devices
The School was also awarded a new linkage project grant: A/Professor Brian Hawkett and Dr Chiara Neto - Janus particles and nanorattles: new materials for paint technology.
- Julia Norman, PhD student, who was awarded a Dr Joan R Clarke scholarship to conduct 12 weeks of research in Germany.
- Associate Professor Sébastien Perrier, who was appointed Visiting Professor Fellow at the Université d'Evry Val D'Essonne, France.
- Associate Professor Sébastien Perrier who was awarded a 2011 International Program Development Fund grant to establish a research program on gene delivery, in collaboration with the Centre de Matériaux Polymeres aux Interfaces, France.
- Associate Professor Sébastien Perrier for his re-appointment on the Advisory Editorial Board of Soft Matter (RSC).
- Andy West, PhD student, who was finalist of the 'Great Brain Drain' at Science Exposed 2010, held at the Power House Museum.
- Dr Richard Payne on his award of a 2010 NSW Young Tall Poppy Award for his work on the use of organic chemistry to discover new drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis and cancer vaccines. These awards recognise young scientists who are doing outstanding work in their field and actively engage and educate the community about their work.
- Professor Thomas Maschmeyer who, as part of the Ignite Energy Resources team as non-executive Director, has won the Mining Journal's National Excellence in Mining Award for Innovation "For the development of a supercritical water process for the upgrading of brown coal and biomass".
- Mimi Liu, PhD student, who was awarded one of three EACR Pezcoller Poster Prizes at the 21st Meeting of the European Association for Cancer Research, June 26-30, Oslo, Norway.
- Dr Deanna D'Alessandro on the award of a 2010 L'Oreal Australia For Women in Science Fellowship worth $20,000 for her work on molecules that can capture and release gases such as carbon dioxide using light. The Fellowship will provide equipment, travel support and a summer vacation student to assist her research.
- Jenny Zhang, PhD student, who has won a poster prize at the Gordon Research Conference (Metals in Medicine) that was held in June at Andover, NH, USA. The title of the poster was:
Enhancing the Tumour Penetration of Anti-cancer Platinum Complexes.
- Jessica Chadbourne, PhD Student, who won first prize at the Australian X-ray Analytical Association (AXAA) 2010 NSW Student Seminar Evening held at UNSW. Jessica also won a bursary to attend the AXAA 2011 Conference to be held in Darling Harbour next February.
- Professor Leo Radom, who has been awarded the 2010 RACI Physical Chemistry Division Medal for his outstanding achievements in theoretical and computational chemistry research. The Physical Chemistry Division Medal is awarded in recognition of outstanding contributions to any or all of research, teaching, industry and service to the Division and in the field of Physical Chemistry in Australia.
- Associate Professor James Beattie, whose research on characterizing the surface of water has been highlighted in the latest issue of Chemical and Engineering News, the magazine for members of the ACS. The article includes comments from all the big players in the field.
- Mr Roberson De Oliveiro, visiting student with Professor John Canning, who won the Best Student Presentation at the Asia-Pacific Optical Sensors Conference in Guangzhou China. Because of their strong showing, they will now be hosting the next APOS conference in Sydney.
- Professor John Canning, who has been appointed Assistant Editor on the Editorial Board of the new journal "Photonic Sensors" from Springer, the first issue of which will come out in March 2011.
- Dr Rich Payne, whose recent research successes in the areas of tuberculosis drug discovery and glycopeptide cancer vaccines have been highlighted in a recent issue of Chemistry World.
- Emeritus Professor Len Lindoy who has been awarded an Honorary DSc from the University of Edinburgh his outstanding contributions to coordination and supramolecular chemistry and to research and teaching in the University of Edinburgh.
- Dr Chiara Neto and Dr Stuart Thickett, along with their collaborator Associate Professor Andrew Harris in Chemical Engineering, featured on SBS News Australia on June 9 for their research on water capture devices.
- PhD candidate Mr William Brant who has been awarded a AINSE Postgraduate Award for his research on the development of defect perovskites for use as cathode materials in lithium ion batteries. William also recieved the Vice-Chancellor's Research Scholarship as a top-up to his APA.
- Honours student Mr Joseph Kwan-Hoi Wong who has won the 2010 RACI Western Sydney Section Honours Prize for his thesis Synthetic Approaches to Cyclobutanone Analogues of beta-lactam Antibiotics (completed in 2009).
- Ms Alexandra Manos-Turvey, PhD candidate and P/G Teaching Fellow, who has received a Gritton University Medallist Award through the Henry Bertie and Florence Mabel Gritton bequest.
- PhD candidate Mr Ben Mullaney who has been awarded an AINSE Postgraduate Award for his research on spin crossover in metal organic frameworks.
- PhD student, Ms Lisa Cameron who has been awarded an AINSE Postgraduate Award for her research on negative thermal expansion in coordination framework materials.
- PhD student, Joonsup Lee, who has been awarded an AINSE postgraduate award for his research into biospectroscopic studies on damage caused by cerebral malaria and meningitis in the brain.
- PhD student, Mimi Liu, who was awarded a Faculty of Science Postgraduate Research Prize for her research aimed at understanding the anti-metastatic (prevention of secondary cancer tumours) effects of ruthenium anti-cancer drugs.
- Dr Mat Todd, who has been awarded the 2010 Faculty of Science Citation for Excellence in Teaching for the School of Chemistry. The citation acknowledges the contribution of staff in the Faculty of Science to high quality teaching and enhancing the student learning environment. The citation recognises innovation, scholarship and excellent practice in teaching and learning as well as exceptional curriculum design, development and review.
- Dr Deanna D'Alessandro, who has been awarded an Outstanding Early Career Alumni Award (one of 5 awarded during the 40th Anniversary Celebrations of James Cook University in April 2010).
- Dr Burkhard Fückel, who received a Feodor Lynen Fellowship from the Humboldt Foundation. Burkhard joined the Schmidt group in February for a 15 month research project on photochemical upconversion for third generation photovoltaic applications and is co-hosted by Ron Clarke.
- Associate Professor Adam Bridgeman and Dr Peter Rutledge who have been awarded one of two 2010 Vice-Chancellor's Awards for the Support of the Student Experience. The Award was for their innovative and very effective program for delivering feedback to large classes. The program is now being used in other faculties.
- Dr Mat Todd, who is part of a UNSW-led international team that was awarded $215K from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council for a project entitled "Extending the science curriculum: teaching instrumental science at a distance in a global laboratory using a collaborative electronic laboratory notebook".
- Professor Kate Jolliffe, Dr Richard Payne and Professor Trevor Hambley on their award of an NHMRC Equipment Grant, Automated Microwave accelerated Solid Phase Peptide Synthesizer, valued at $74,900.
- A/Professor Adam Bridgeman on the award of a ($46K) University of Sydney Teaching Improvement Project grant for a Faculty wide project “Development of the Sydney Scientist in the first year BSc program”. This is joint with Dr Charlotte Taylor, Director of Learning and Teaching in the Faculty of Science, and Mr Michael Arndell, Assistant Manager/Team Leader, Science Library Services Team. The project will develop an eLearning Community Site and an ePortfolio site at the first year level of the science degree program to promote the Sydney Scientist as an integrated course focusing on the application of the scientific method, and its associated skills, across and between disciplines. The integration into the curriculum of a core set of attributes for first year BSc students will be ensured through a collaboration across all first year units of study. This degree level approach will enhance the core scientific procedural skills and baseline graduate attributes of the students at an appropriate level and also enhance self-efficacy for success at higher levels.
- Dr Chiara Neto and Dr Stuart Thickett on the article on their research work on water capture devices that was published in the ECOS Sustainable Future Magazine (March issue).
- Dr Jack Clegg, who has been awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship at the University of Cambridge from 1 April.
- Professor Jeff Reimers who has been elected as one of the seventeen new Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science , in recognition of his contributions over many years elucidating the electronic and vibrational structure of complex materials.
- Associate Professor Sébastier Perrier who was recently interviewed by Nature Chemistry. The interview can be found here.
- Professor John Canning on the 2 page article on his research work in photonics that was published in the inaugural edition of the University of Sydney World Magazine.
- Dr Chiara Neto and Dr Stuart Thickett on their award of the best poster prize at the recently held ICONN (International Conference of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology) 2010 Conference for their work entitled ‘Hydrophilic/Hydrophobic Patterned Surfaces by Dewetting and Their Use for Atmospheric Water Capture’.
- Ms Althea Tsang, PhD candidate, who has won a DAAD ( Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) scholarship to conduct research in Germany during 2010. DAAD is Germany’s largest scholarship-awarding organisation.
- Professor Kate Jolliffe who has received a University of Sydney Cancer Research Fund grant for 2010 - Bim replacement as a therapeutic strategy to overcome glucocorticoid resistance in the treatment of paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia valued at $40,000.
- Dr Mat Todd, whose open source Chemistry project on the development of a front-line drug against the tropical disease schistosomiasis has featured as a news item in Nature:
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100204/full/news.2010.50.html#B1
- Dr Mat Todd, Dr Peter Rutledge and Associate Professor Adam Bridgeman whose innovative undergraduate video repository project has appeared in an article in C&E News:
As part of this project, undergraduate students are encouraged to record with their mobile devices the procedures and results of their laboratory work.